Ice tray



Oct. 18, 1938. s. w. E. ANDERSSON 2,1335266 ICE TRAY Original Filed Oct. 27, 1933 INVENTOR. WW2. W

,4; ATTORNEY.

Patented Oct. 18, 1938 UNITED STATES ICE TRAY Sven W. E. Andersson,

to Servel, Inc., of Delaware Original application Evansville, Ind., assignor New York, N. Y., a corporation October 27, 1933, Serial No. Divided and this application September 19, 1936, Serial No. 101,567

1 Claim.

This invention relates to ice trays or the like for use in household refrigerators, and constitutes a division of my application Serial No. 695,398 filed October 27, 1933. i

It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for facilitating and simplifying the removal of ice trays after the contents of the same have been frozen.

The invention, together with the objects and advantages thereof, will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing forming afaart of this specification, and of which Fig. 1 is a fragmentary front view of a cooling unit and an ice tray embodying the invention placed therein, and Fig. 2'is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1 illustrating more clearly parts of the device provided on the tray.

Referring to the drawing, an evaporator or cooling unit I!) of a. household refrigerator (not shown) is refrigerated in any desired manner. The cooling unit I0 may be provided with one or more tray receiving compartments, only one of which is shown, in which an ice tray II is placed for freezing the contents of the same. The tray I I includes a receptacle body I2, at the front end of which is provided two bent over extended portions or abutments to which a tray front I3 may be secured by bolts or other fastening elements I5. This structure is formed at the time of stamping the tray, the material at each side of the tray being cut along the line indicated at I6 in order to provide a triangular reenforcemen't at each front outer corner of the tray. The tray front I g is formed with a handle or hand-grip portion I The tray II rests on the lower horizontal portion or shelf ll of the cooling unit with the broad -fiat bottom of-the tray in thermal contact with the shelf to provide a good conductive path for removal of heat through the tray and shelf.

When the tray is filled with water, moisture on v the bottom of the tray freezes and forms an ice bond between the bottom of the tray and the shelf "which must be broken in order to remove the tray from the cooling unit.

In accordance with this invention an improved.

device is provided for breaking the ice bond which is formed between the bottom of a tray and the shelf of a cooling unit upon which it is placed. Referring to Fig.2, the device shown includes a lever or bar I8 which extends through a slot l9 formed in the hand-grip portion I 4 of the tray front and is provided with a curved upper end 28 to provide a finger-grip for actuating the device, 7

The lower end of lever I8 is rounded and eccentrically pivoted to the lower rounded end of a bracket 2I which extends upward and is riveted or otherwise secured to the front wall of' the tray body I 2. A spring 22, having the upper end fastened to the flange 23 formed at the upper edge of the front wall of the tray body and the lower end secured to the lever I8, serves to maintain lever I8 in the inoperative position shown in Fig. 2.

In the use of the above described device, the

tray body I2 is filled with water or other matter to be'frozen and inserted in the cooling unit I0 of the refrigerator with which the tray is used. With the tray positioned in the cooling unit heat is removed from the tray bottom through the shelf, due to the production of cold by the cooling unit, whereby any moisture between the tray bottom and the shelf is frozen, thus firmly uniting the parts. When it is desired to remove the tray with its contents, the handle 20 of lever I8 is moved downward whereby the lower rounded end .of lever I8 is rotated eccentrically with respect to the lower rounded end of the bracket 2 I. With such eccentric movement of the lower rounded end of the lever I8 the lower end of the lever bears against the surface of the shelf I1 and exerts a separating force between the tray body I2 and shelf I'I. When the ice bond between the tray and shelf is broken and the finger-grip 28 is released, the spring 22 returns the parts to the position shown in Fig. 2, whereupon the handgrip I4 can be grasped and the tray removed from the cooling unit.

In view of the foregoing, it will be seen that an improved device has been provided for facilltating the removal of ice traysfrom cooling units. The lower rounded end of lever I8 is normally disposed adjacent the bottom of the tray body I2. When a rotating movement is imparted to the lower rounded end of lever I8 by pulling down the finger-grip 20, a portion of the lower rounded end extends beyond the bottom of the tray. With this construction the lower end of the lever I8, together with the bracket 2|, forms 'a leverage means which can be extended whereby sufllcient force is provided to separate the tray body from the support.

Although a particular embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, it will be apparent that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

An ice freezing tray having bottom, side, and

end walls, a front plate secured to the tray in spaced parallel relation with one of said end walls, said front plate having a vertical slot and being formed to provide a handle for the tray, a lever having one end projecting through the slot in said front plate and the other end pivotally connected to said tray adjacent the lower front edge thereof, a spring for normally holding the lever against the top of said slot, and the pivoted end of said lever being formed as a cam which engages a tray supporting shelf when rotated by movement of the projecting end of said lever downward in said slot against the action of said spring to loosen any ice bond there may be between the shelf and the bottom of the tray.

SVEN W. E. ANDERSSON. 

